California
Former Fox Sports reporter accuses a top executive of sexual assault
A former Fox Sports reporter and anchor filed a lawsuit Friday against the network and top executive Charlie Dixon, saying he sexually assaulted her after coaxing her up to his hotel room to discuss Super Bowl plans in 2016 and was later pushed out of her job for fighting back.
Julie Stewart-Binks said in her complaint, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, that she was inspired to speak up after a former hairstylist for Fox Sports filed a lawsuit on Jan. 5 saying a former host had made repeated unwanted sexual advances toward her and that Dixon had groped her.
Andrew Fegyveresi, a spokesperson for Fox, said in an email that the claims had been addressed.
“These allegations are from over eight years ago,” his email said. “At the time, we promptly hired a third-party firm to investigate and addressed the matter based on their findings.”
Fegyveresi did not respond to a request to elaborate on what the investigation found or how their findings were addressed.
Former Fox Sports reporter accuses a top executive of sexual assault
A former Fox Sports reporter and anchor filed a lawsuit Friday against the network and top executive Charlie Dixon, saying he sexually assaulted her after coaxing her up to his hotel room to discuss Super Bowl plans in 2016 and was later pushed out of her job for fighting back.
Julie Stewart-Binks said in her complaint, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, that she was inspired to speak up after a former hairstylist for Fox Sports filed a lawsuit on Jan. 5 saying a former host had made repeated unwanted sexual advances toward her and that Dixon had groped her.
Andrew Fegyveresi, a spokesperson for Fox, said in an email that the claims had been addressed.
“These allegations are from over eight years ago,” his email said. “At the time, we promptly hired a third-party firm to investigate and addressed the matter based on their findings.”
Fegyveresi did not respond to a request to elaborate on what the investigation found or how their findings were addressed.
The Associated Press does not generally identify those who say they have been sexually assaulted or subjected to abuse unless they have given permission to identify them. Stewart-Binks’ lawyers said she gave the AP permission to use her name.
Stewart-Binks covered soccer and hockey in Canada and moved to Los Angeles in 2013 to join the team at Fox Sports 1, the lawsuit said. She was invited to cover the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics as a host and returned to report on the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings, the Stanley Cup playoffs and the U.S. men’s and women’s national soccer teams. In the fall of 2014, she was the main sideline reporter for the Anaheim Ducks.
Jamie Horowitz became president of Fox Sports in May 2015 and hired Dixon two months later to be the executive vice president of content, the lawsuit said. “The two had the power to pick and choose who would be on camera for the networks,” the lawsuit said.
In the buildup to the 2016 Super Bowl, plans were underway for the show “Jason Whitlock’s House Party By the Bay” and Stewart-Binks was told she was going to appear on the program, the lawsuit said. The night before her meeting with the show’s team, she received a text from Dixon asking her to meet him at his hotel, the lawsuit said.
According to the lawsuit, Dixon told her they needed to talk about the show, and then began berating her, saying he didn’t want her going to the Super Bowl because she wasn’t “funny, interesting or talented.” He said she wasn’t “capable of handling big moments on TV” and people would only watch if she got on the bar and took off her top,” the lawsuit said.
As Stewart-Binks scrambled to come up with a response that would show her talent, Dixon invited her to his hotel room to see the view from his balcony, the suit said. She agreed, reluctantly. But once on the balcony, Dixon pushed her against the wall, pinned down her arms, pressed his body against hers and tried to force his tongue into her mouth, the lawsuit said.
Stewart-Binks pushed him away and ran from the room, the suit said. She didn’t say anything about it at the team’s Super Bowl meeting the following day and she was confirmed to appear on the Whitlock show. However, she was told that she had to confront New England Patriots tight end Ron Gronkowski about his stint at a stripper in college.
She resisted the idea of asking for his “Magic Mike” moves but after Dixon’s comments the night before, she wanted to prove that she could be fun, so she asked for a lap dance, the lawsuit said.
Stewart-Binks said she faced an immediate backlash on social media from people who said she was setting women back through her actions.
“Following Fox’s direction, Stewart-Binks remained silent outwardly, though Dixon’s assault and the media’s portrayal of her took a profound emotional toll and left her in tears much of the time,” the lawsuit said.
She only went public after seeing the lawsuit filed by the former Fox hairstylist who made similar claims. Stewart-Binks’ lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for emotional distress and asks that Fox be required to take action to prevent any current or future sexual abuse.
Washington
Woman who wanted to kill GOP leaders said she was inspired by CEO’s slaying, prosecutors say
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Massachusetts woman who told police that she went to the U.S. Capitol to kill members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet said she was influenced by Luigi Mangione, the man charged with fatally shooting the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, prosecutors said in a court filing.
Ryan Michael English, who goes by Riley English, was arrested Monday and remained in custody after her initial court appearance on Thursday. English didn’t immediately challenge her pretrial detention, court records show.
English, 24, of South Deerfield, Massachusetts, told police that she felt like she was “on a mission” and “had been thinking about for this for a while because of Luigi Mangione,” prosecutors said. Mangione pleaded not guilty in December to state murder and terror charges in a Manhattan court.
“I pushed that away because I was thinking like that is so stupid, that accomplishes nothing, that poor kid just threw his life away for like a minute of vengeance,” English said, according to prosecutors.
English was arrested on weapons charges after she approached police at the Capitol and said she came there to kill billionaire investor Scott Bessent on the day that the Senate confirmed the South Carolina resident as Trump’s treasury secretary, according to a Tuesday court filing.
Investigators said they found a folding knife, two homemade firebombs and a lighter in English’s possession.
English also said she traveled from Massachusetts to Washington, D.C., intending to kill other Republican political figures — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and House Speaker Mike Johnson — and to burn down the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, according to police. English changed her target to Bessent after reading an internet post about his confirmation hearing, police said.
English told officers that she was terminally ill and “wanted to do something before I go,” according to prosecutors.
“The criminal conduct for which she is before the Court is not a momentary lapse in judgment; rather, it was a premeditated and calculated attempt to commit violence,” they wrote.
Defense attorney Maria Jacob said English only went to the Capitol “as a cry for help” and didn’t intend to harm anybody.
“She was not aggressive when she approached the Capitol Police Officers. She never brandished any of the items as weapons and assisted police to retrieve the items on her person immediately,” Jacob wrote.
